


road trip

by mistyheartrbs



Category: Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: Cameos, F/F, Love Confessions, Road Trips, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-19
Updated: 2016-12-19
Packaged: 2018-09-09 22:16:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8915086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mistyheartrbs/pseuds/mistyheartrbs
Summary: Riko takes Chika on a spontaneous roadtrip for her birthday. It doesn't go how she expected.





	

**Author's Note:**

> i submitted this as my entry for the love live big bang earlier this year, and i figured it was about time to post it on here, too. (also please check out my cool artist friend skystarcat's art for it)

_I should be used to this by now._

That, at least, was Riko's initial thought when a pink, fluffy, and definitely not her own pillow hit her in the head one cloudy Wednesday night. It didn't take her very long to figure out the identity of the culprit - a burglar or malevolent being probably wouldn't make their presence known by throwing a pillow at her, and her mother was asleep in the other room. Begrudgingly, she got up, rubbing sleep from her eyes as she shuffled across the room to the balcony. As expected, Chika stood on the other end with an impish smile on her face. 

"Explain," Riko muttered, holding up the pillow with a barely-contained expression of tiredness. "It's the middle of the night." 

"Correction!" Chika leaned against the railing, seemingly no worse for wear despite the late hour. "It's the beginning of the morning!" 

"So?" 

"Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear Chika, happy birthday to-" 

"What?" Riko was too tired to string any of the events that had happened in the past five minutes together. 

"Turn the pillow around, silly!" Riko did as she was told and looked at the other end, where a small piece of paper was taped on with Chika's tell-tale cutesy handwriting scribbled across. "I figured we could talk like this sometimes! For important stuff, at least!" Riko squinted at the paper, holding it up to the moonlight. She was briefly stricken with the thought that the stars shone brighter here than they had back in Tokyo, and she forced down the pang of homesickness as she looked back at the paper. 

_hey!_

_it's my birthday in five minutes! cool, huh?_

_-chika_

There was a cartoonish drawing of a cat at the bottom, and Riko let out a chuckle. 

"It's very . . . like you," she said, still forgetting the crucial detail in her exhaustion. "Wouldn't it be easier to just text each other, though?" Chika shrugged. 

"Yeah, sure, but where's the fun in that?" 

"I suppose." Riko was still bone-tired, her legs shaking from having stood on the balcony after spending hours in bed along with the rest of her. It wasn't until she looked back at the paper that she realized something rather important. "Wait, _it's your birthday?”_ Chika gave a satisfied smirk. 

"It took you long enough," she sighed. "So, what kinds of presents do you have planned for me at a reasonable hour?" The weather was beginning to get cold, and the nighttime wind didn't help with the temperature, and yet Riko found herself sweating. 

"Well, erm, you see . . ." 

"Yeah?" Chika leaned over to try and reach for her hand, but she was too tired to do the same. 

"It's a surprise!" Riko blurted out. "Yep! Yep! It's a surprise, nothing less, nothing more!" She started to back away into the apartment, still sweating profusely. "Lovely chat, Chika! Thanks for the pillow!" 

"I'm gonna need to have it back, y'know! It's Shiitake's, he sleeps on it every night!" Riko had never flung something out of a window so quickly in her life. 

***

"I'll still love you," Chika whispered to the dog as she nestled back into her bed, setting the pink pillow down beside her. "You're the greatest dog . . . in the . . . mmf . . ." She was asleep before her head hit the pillow. Had she remained awake even a minute longer, she would have heard Riko's loud, frustrated mutterings from across the houses. 

***

"C'mon, c'mon, _please_ respond," Riko begged the phone, typing out frustrated messages to anyone she could think of. 

**Riko: Help!  
Riko: Someone!   
Mari: ~oh?~  
Riko: Please . . .  
Mari: ~what is it?~   
Riko: You don't have to do that every time you send out a text, you know.   
Mari: ~what do you mean?~  
Riko: Okay, forget it.   
Riko: You're good at giving people gifts, right?   
Riko: It's Chika's birthday tomorrow and I'm at an utter loss.   
Riko: What does she even /like?/   
Riko: Dogs??   
Riko: I don't know  
Mari: ~ohohohohoho~   
Mari: ~a couple's struggle, then, hmm?~**

Riko could feel her face flushing red as the phone cast its glaring light in the dark room. 

**Mari: ~i have just the thing~  
Mari: ~you owe me a favor after this, though~  
Riko: Can the favor be disabling that...  
Riko: Tilde?  
Mari: ~oh!~   
Mari: ~it's time for me to go to sleep!~  
Riko: You mean you were awake anyway?!**

Riko set down the phone with a sigh, trying her best to fall asleep with Chika's apparent birthday still on her mind. 

***

Chika had no idea what to expect when Riko called her late the next afternoon, except for perhaps a _happy birthday_ or a long-winded rant about why dogs were the most terrifying creatures known to mankind. As it turned out, it was neither of those. Her voice seemed shaky, unsure, and yet Chika could hear just a little bit of excitement. 

"So, if you, erm, would like to head over to my house, then I have something . . . good to show you . . . yeah . . ." Riko trailed off before abruptly hanging up the phone with a _click._

"Mom?" Chika half-yelled up the stairs, already halfway out the door. 

"Yes?" 

"I'm going out with a . . . friend, alright?" 

"Don't you want to spend the rest of your birthday with us?" 

"I promise I'll be back by dinnertime!" 

She was not back by dinnertime. Chika skipped along the way to Riko's house (a rather short distance), humming to herself as she wondered what _surprise_ Riko had in store for her. 

"Maybe it's a big cake!" she said aloud, to nobody in particular. "Or a puppy! No, wait, she hates dogs . . ." She was so lost in her thoughts that she nearly didn't notice the red car that definitely hadn't been there yesterday, sitting in front of Riko's house. She nearly didn't notice Riko sitting in front of the car, either. 

"Happy birthday, Chika," Riko murmured, putting her hand on the car. Chika looked up in confusion. 

"Wait, what're you talking about? Where'd you get that car? Is this the surprise?" Riko let out a light chuckle. 

"To answer - this is your present, Mari, and yes." Chika blinked. 

"Oh," she said, unsure of what else to say. "Wait, you got me a car?! What could I even do with that?!" 

"We're borrowing it. For a road trip, just the two of us. The others promised to work hard in our stead, your sister is taking care of that . . . beast you call a pet, and Mari said that we could use this for about a week as long as we didn't crash it into a ditch." 

"Wait, you mean that we're going on a big road trip?" Chika had started poking around the car already, staring in awe. "Really?" Riko nodded. 

"If you don't want to, then we could do something else-" 

"No!" Chika blurted out, taking Riko's hands into her own. The other girl blushed. "This is perfect! It'll be fun, I know it will! When do we leave?" 

"Now." Chika didn't hesitate for a moment to jump into the car, pressing herself up against the seat. 

"It's so comfy!" she squeaked. "Riko, you've gotta try this! Wait, did you pack any stuff? Or are we gonna be living off the land, hunting deer for food and-" 

"No, no, I brought snacks," Riko said, sliding into the driver's seat. "That's really the only thing I have planned, though. You like spontaneous things, right?" Chika eagerly nodded. 

"It's always fun not knowing what's gonna happen! That's how I see it, at least." 

***

After several minutes of Riko fretfully checking the gas tank, Chika lovingly stroking the dashboard, and the families of both bidding them farewell, the car finally left the front of Riko's house and started down the small road. 

"It's weird," Chika said, looking out the window as they passed by houses and familiar buildings. 

"Hmm?" 

"I've hardly ever left this town, and now we're going on this big, fun adventure all of a sudden. It makes me realize how small of a place this really is. I love it more than anything, but you know what I mean, right?" 

"I think so. I was always somewhat daunted, honestly, by the sheer size of Tokyo, and even after living here for a few years, it's still strange to be in such a small town. There's something about this place that makes it feel like _home,_ I guess." Chika leaned over and grinned. "What?" 

"You _like_ it here," she chided in a sing-song voice. 

"Of course I like it here!" Riko huffed. "I wouldn't still be living here if I didn't! Honestly, you haven't changed at all since I met you." 

"It really has been more than two years, huh? I still can't believe it." 

"It's a miracle that we've all stayed a unit, honestly. The two of us and the others, we're all still close, we're all still staying here during every break. It's . . . nice." Riko kept her eyes on the road as the car began to leave town. "It's safe." 

"Safe?" Chika echoed.

"Yeah. There's something comforting about having such a tight-knit group, isn't it?" Chika shrugged. 

"I guess I always kinda took that for granted," she admitted. "Everyone's like that around here. We're all one big family, that's what people say. It's part of why I love it so much! It's part of why I loved our high school so much, too. It wouldn't have been the same if we'd been forced to merge with another school." 

"I get what you mean. Aqours . . . it's something special." 

"Mm-hmm." Chika had started to nod off, and Riko simply gave her a smile as the car entered the vast countryside. "It's . . . super great . . ." Riko chuckled. 

"You really are weird," she murmured, and the car rumbled on. 

***

The sky was dark by the time Chika woke up, groggily rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she stared blankly out the window. 

_Wait, where am I?_ She couldn't remember for the life of her where she'd gone that afternoon, and so she reached the only possible conclusion rather quickly. _I've been kidnapped!_

"Oh, you're awake." 

_Wait. That's . . ._ "Riko?! You're one of the kidnappers?" Riko blinked. 

"What?" The memories of the day slowly crept back, and Chika could feel the tips of her ears turning red. 

"Oh. Right. We're on a road trip, right?" Riko nodded, still keeping her eyes on the road. 

"You were out like a light for a while. Two hours, at least. I didn't have anyone to talk to. It gave me time to think, though." Chika looked at her inquisitively. 

"What'd you think about?" she asked. Riko turned away, avoiding her gaze. "Is it something important? Are you gonna have some big life-changing revelation in this car?" Chika sat up in rapt attention, all sleepiness forgotten. 

"Well, yes." Riko was blushing like a middle schooler in love for the first time, nervously tucking her hair behind her ear. 

_She's pretty in the moonlight,_ Chika thought, but she remained silent. 

"You see, I've had these feelings for a while, and they're not exactly the easiest to say out loud, but-" 

"Ooh, it's a hotel! Look, Riko, it's a hotel!" Riko looked like she was just about to slam her face on the steering wheel. 

"I suppose it is," she sighed, pulling into the bumpy gravel driveway. "Should we stay here tonight?" 

"Yep!" Chika gave her a thumbs-up and hardly even waited for the car to stop before jumping out and running into the hotel's lobby (if it could even be called that - it looked like a hastily put-together living room, and Chika loved it) with a triumphant whoop. "Hey, Riko, they have mints over here! An entire bowl of mints! For free!" Riko put down some money on the counter before heading upstairs with nothing but a spare change of clothes in tow. 

"Are you done?" she said, waiting at the top of a staircase. Chika shoved another three mints into her shirt before joining her. 

"They really should have someone to watch over those mints," she sighed airily, popping one into her mouth as she walked down the carpeted hallway. "Someone might try and steal 'em. Want one?" Riko politely shook her head and stopped, rather suddenly, at one of the doors. She tugged at the sticky knob, and Chika wondered briefly if it was possible for one girl to tear a door from its hinges. Paint flaked from the ceiling as Riko finally managed to yank the stubborn door open. 

"Home sweet home, at least for tonight," she said, flicking on a light switch. "Well, it's not much, but it'll do." 

"Woo-hoo!" Chika flung herself onto one of the beds, already wriggling underneath the covers with her clothes on. Riko headed for the bathroom, muttering something to herself about not damaging the sheets. 

***

"At least we have two beds," Riko said once the door was shut. "That would've been bad, right?" She let out a forced chuckle. "There wouldn't have been anything more awful than sharing a bed with Chika, right?" She slapped her cheeks, staring into the cracked mirror. "Crap, I don't think that this is going to go away." Chika was already fast asleep by the time Riko had stepped out into the darkened bedroom, and she was left to sit awake on the springy mattress, watching the other girl's breathing form rise and fall as the stars glimmered in the sky. 

***

They were on the road the next morning as Chika bid the hotel a fond farewell and smuggled away several more mints. 

"Honestly, what are you even going to do with all of those?" Riko sighed, pulling open a bag of chips. The car rumbled to life. 

"Well, what happens if we get lost and run out of food? These'll be our one source, and then maybe we won't die in the middle of the wilderness!" Chika pumped her fist in the air, but was jostled back as the car jerked out of the parking lot. "Hey, I forgot to ask - why'd Mari give this to you so easily? Did you need to pay for it or anything?" Riko shook her head. 

"No, she just told us to 'have fun and learn about ourselves,' and then she left. I haven't heard anything from her since then." 

"Maybe it's another one of her signature pranks," Chika mused, "and she's actually been in the car this whole time." 

"What, you think she'll suddenly pop out from under a seat and yell or something?" 

_"It's joke!"_

"Bwah!" Chika and Riko both jumped in their seats. 

"Oh, wait, that's just my phone." Chika dug the phone out of her pocket, seemingly undaunted. 

"Why do you have that as your ringtone?!" 

"Hey, look! She wants to know how we're doing!" 

**Mari: ~sooooooooooo~  
Mari: ~how's the roadtrip going?~   
Mari: ~any /life-changing discoveries/ yet?~  
Chika: nope!!  
Chika: but i stole thirty mints!!!  
Mari: ~nice~**

Chika was about to type another response when something on the highway caught her eye. 

"Riko! Riko, look, it's a roadside dog breeder! They've got puppies!" Riko slid as far below her seat as she could while still keeping her eyes on the road, resignation clear on her face. 

"Well . . . this _is_ your birthday present," she muttered, turning the car in the direction of the large, water-soaked sign advertising the sales of dogs. 

"Yeah!" Chika grinned and hopped out of the car as soon as it came to a stop on the shady driveway, skipping towards the sound of excited yapping. Riko took a deep breath and followed her. "Wow, they're really fluffy!" Several puppies squirmed in a large enclosure, all of them competing for Chika's attention. 

"Ah, so you've found us." A woman approached the two, a larger dog (the mother of the puppies, Chika figured) trotting obediently on her heel. There was something familiar about her, Chika thought, but she couldn't quite place her finger on it. Most of the woman's face was obscured by a large, floppy hat that seemed to protect her from the sun, though Chika wondered how she could even see with it hanging over her eyes. 

"What do you mean?" she asked. Riko crept around the enclosure with fear in her expression. 

"You're the kids from, ah, what was it? Aqua-something? Elicchi, what was it called? We saw it on the internet, once." Riko seemed to briefly forget her fear of dogs as she ran to catch Chika, who nearly fell on the ground from sheer shock. 

"You know us?" she chirped. 

"Aqours!" someone called from a cottage further down the hill. If Chika's head hadn't been spinning from the concept of this random dog breeder knowing who they were, she might have thought that the other voice sounded familiar, too. "That's what they were called!" Just then, one of the puppies managed to jump out of the enclosure, circling Riko's legs. 

"H-hey, miss, uh, what's your name?" Riko shuddered as the puppy (which couldn't have been bigger than a pillow) started jumping up and down and yapped incessantly. "Could you please h-help? It's going to eat me, I think." 

"Oh, Snowball, you little rascal," the woman cooed, picking up the puppy. "You're going to get hurt one of these days. Would you like to hold him?" Riko shook her head. "Great!" The puppy - Snowball, apparently - was thrust into her arms, and it was all Riko could do not to throw him as far as she could. 

"Riko hates dogs!" Chika piped up. "I dunno why, though! They're so cute and nice! Look, he wants to give you a kiss!" Snowball licked Riko on the cheek, and she didn't hesitate to drop him back onto the ground this time. 

"Let's leave now," she muttered, shaking like a leaf. "We'll need to make it to a hotel or something by sundown." Nobody noticed the fact that Snowball was still free, running to the car's open door with his tiny, stubby legs. 

"That's alright," the older woman murmured. "I understand." She gave them a small wave, a nostalgic smile spreading across her features. "Let me tell you one thing, though." 

"Yeah?" 

"Don't take this time for granted, okay? You're still in the prime of your youth, so have fun." 

"Mm-hmm! Yes, ma'am!" Chika squeaked, already halfway inside the car. "Hey, what's that munching noise?" Riko froze up as she looked into the trunk, where Snowball innocently sat with the entire bag of food in his mouth. 

" _P-please,_ pay closer attention to your dogs, lady!" Riko yelped, shuddering as she put down the puppy and let him run off with the bag still gripped in his teeth. "Great, now we're out of food." She got back in, slammed the door, and drove away as fast as she could. 

"That was pretty fun, though, right? I liked that lady, she seemed cool. I think I've seen her before." Riko stared straight ahead with a dull, blank face. 

"I have stared into the eyes of the devil," she muttered, "and he has a fluffy tail." 

"Okay. More importantly, how're we gonna get food now? I have the mints, but that won't last long! Maybe we could find a deer and-" 

"We'll stop at a gas station tomorrow," Riko interrupted. "They'll have food at reasonable prices. For now, we should focus on going to a hotel that has no dogs. None at all, nope, none! Wouldn't that be great?" 

***

The hotel was nothing special - a bit dingier than the previous one, but it was comfortable enough and Riko fell asleep before her head hit the pillow. The sun filtered through the tattered curtains the next morning. Riko pulled the covers over her head to block it out, still bone-tired from the ordeal with the puppy. She was just about to slip back into dreamland when Chika flung the sheets off of the bed with a grin. 

"Hey, sleepyhead! Wake up, it's the start of day three! We've gotta go to a gas station and get, um, some stuff!" 

_She might as well be the sun,_ Riko idly thought. _Considering how bright she always is, keeping everyone warm and happy._ "Would I be the moon, then?" she said out loud. 

"What?" 

"N-nothing!" 

It wasn't long before the two were on the road again, and Chika hummed along with the radio as they drew closer to a gas station. 

"We're only buying the essentials, alright?" Riko said firmly. "We need enough food to last us a week." Immediately, Chika rushed to the sweets aisle, snatching anything with a pastel-colored box off of the shelves. Riko let out a sigh as she started to pick up some crackers. She was nearly done when Chika let out a stifled, ominous chuckle. "Chika?" 

"Oh, it's nothing." The other girl hid something behind her back, but Riko was too busy with her basket full of snack foods to ask what it was, and she saw Chika slip some money onto the counter before skipping back to the car. "Close your eyes, okay?" Riko shrugged and complied. "Ta-da!" There, on the back of the car, three identical mermaid bumper stickers were plastered with placid smiles on their faces. 

"This isn't even our car!" Riko yelped. "We're borrowing it!" 

"Isn't it, though?" Chika sighed, lovingly stroking one of the stickers. "Maybe Mari'll let us keep it. Rich people are weird like that sometimes." Riko groaned, still staring at the mermaids. 

"You're never going to let that joke go, are you?" 

"Nope!" 

***

There was something indescribable about the countryside, Chika thought. There was hardly anything there, only the occasional house or roadside attraction, but it was peaceful, and she was having fun. There was something wonderful about not having any kind of destination, she realized. Riko seemed to be enjoying herself, too, even if she would never admit it. The hotel for that night - which wasn't even really a hotel, it was someone's house with a neon sign out front - was much smaller than the first two, and the two beds were more or less squashed up next to each other. Riko seemed concerned about that, for reasons Chika couldn't begin to fathom. 

"There's no bathroom, either," she fretted. "Why d-don't we go somewhere else, Chika?" 

"It's the middle of the night. Isn't it super-dangerous to go out on the highway at night or something?" 

"I guess you're right." Riko paused for a moment, and Chika figured that she was in deep thought over something. "We'll ask the owners for some wire and an extra blanket. That way, we can each have our own side and get some privacy. I saw it in an old movie once." Chika pouted. 

"Why would you wanna separate us?" 

"I, uh, I just need some personal space, Chika." 

"Fine." 

***

Riko would be lying if she said that it wasn't somewhat lonely, separated by the improvised curtain, but she convinced herself that it was for the best as she stayed awake. Sleep eluded her, and she considered reaching for Chika's hand more than once. Still, she stayed strong and kept herself curled up in the cold bed until sunrise. 

***

Chika, as usual, woke up with the sun, excitedly pushing past the hanging blanket and practically hopping at the foot of Riko's bed. 

"Hey, why don't you let me drive today?" she chirped. "You look exhausted." Riko was unusually pale, bags hanging under her eyes as she slowly clambered to her feet. It worried Chika more than she'd have liked to admit, and so she kept holding onto the cheerfulness that had defined her ever since she was younger. Riko gave her a grateful nod and a soft smile, and Chika (despite everything) still didn't quite know why her heart felt like a well-played record, skipping and scratching, every time Riko smiled like that. 

"We should leave soon, though," Riko said, already heading out the door in her pajamas. "I wouldn't want to give these hosts any more trouble." The hosts - three women who had greeted the duo the previous night with a cheerful wave and not much else - were still fast asleep when Chika and Riko went to the car. 

"That place sure was weird, huh?" Chika said as she slid into the driver's seat. "If I didn't know better, I'd say that the owners were hiding something!" 

"Everyone we've met has been like that," Riko mused. 

"Maybe we're being filmed!" Chika suggested, rather loudly. "It could be one of Mari's super-elaborate tricks." 

"Or maybe the people who live in the country just tend to keep to themselves." Riko looked out the window at the rising sun, obscured by fog drifting around the hills. Chika began to steer the car from the house's driveway, and Riko gripped the edge of her seat. "They seem happy enough, like that." 

"I wouldn't be able to do that," Chika said. "Living all alone, without anyone else there to help you through it all." She shuddered at the thought. 

"None of them _have_ been alone, though. They have people with them, even if it's not as big of a group as . . . as Aqours." Riko looked down, her eyes clouded. 

"You miss the others, huh?" Chika tried her best to keep her eyes on the road, but Riko's expression, tired and worn and strange, stopped her from continuing much longer. "How about we, uh, pull over or something?" Chika silently thanked whatever higher power might have existed for the patch of grass along the edge of the highway as she drove the car off of the road. 

"You know that this doesn't mean that I take you for granted, right?" Riko looked up, unbuckling her seat belt and holding her knees to her chest. "I c-care about you . . . a lot . . . but it _scares_ me, knowing that we might not have much time left with everyone. Most of us have already graduated. What'll happen then? It's a miracle that we've even lasted that long." 

"μ's disbanded, you know." The clouds hung heavy as Chika rolled down a window. "They split apart after the third years graduated. I dunno what they're doing now, but I'm sure that they're still friends!" 

"You don't know that," Riko muttered. "What if they haven't seen each other in years? What if we end up like that? What if we . . . if we . . ." Suddenly, Riko wrapped Chika in a tight hug, barely managing to hold back tears. " _God,_ Chika, I don't want to lose this." Chika, unsure of what else to do, gently stroked her hair as she let out a choked sob. 

"S'alright," Chika murmured. "You're alright." 

"I don't want to lose _you,"_ Riko whispered. 

"You won't." Chika gently pushed Riko back into her seat. "No matter what happens, I want us to all be friends forever. That includes you, Riko." Riko laughed hoarsely. 

"Why're we still here, anyway?" she chuckled, wiping away a stray tear. "Mari only gave me a week, and here we are, wasting time on some dead grass." 

"You're ready to go, then?" Riko nodded. "O-kay!" Without another word of warning, Chika put the car into full gear and sped back onto the highway with a grin. The window was still open, and the smells of spilled oil, the noises of cars rushing by, and the clear sky overhead all flooded the space between the two girls. It was wonderful, Chika thought, and it was something she certainly wouldn't forget anytime soon. 

***

Riko was grateful, to say the least, for the fact that Chika hadn't pried any further after the moment on the side of the road - she hated how she had broken down, hated how she had managed to cause a dent in this perfect bubble of freedom that this road trip had given her. Still, Chika didn't seem any worse for wear, still humming to herself throughout the day as the car drove down the highway. The silence might not have bothered her, but it sure as hell bothered Riko, and so she finally decided to break it with a question. 

"Why did you want to do all of this, anyway?" 

"Hmm?" Chika turned down the radio. 

"Becoming a school idol. What caused that?" Chika shrugged. 

"I guess it just seemed like something fun. I wasn't expecting it to get this big, but I'm really, really glad that it did. Otherwise, how would we have met each other?" Chika flashed a smile, and Riko sharply looked down to hide the fact that her cheeks were rapidly turning red. 

"You're right," Riko murmured. 

"You joined 'cause you were having trouble with the piano, right?" Riko nodded. "Do you think you'd have been better with it? The piano, I mean." 

"No," she replied, a bit quicker than she should have. "The nine of us, we've created something unforgettable. I wouldn't trade that for the world." 

"I knew you'd love it," Chika sighed. "I was right, wasn't I?" 

"You were right." 

"Oh, sweet, sweet validation." Riko rolled her eyes. 

"You're a nerd." 

"What does that make you, hmm?" 

"Another nerd, I suppose." 

***

Chika did not see a problem with the hotel. 

She hadn't seen a problem with any of the hotels, really, but this one was even somewhat fancier than the others (despite the woman begging the concierge to let her bring her cats to the room while her companion timidly tugged on her arm) and the room was filled with everything she could have wanted. It was small, sure, with only one bed and a television, but that wasn't a problem to her. 

"We could just sleep in the car," Riko suggested as soon as Chika pulled open the door. "That wouldn't be horrible, right?" Chika had already flopped down onto the bed, rolling on it like it was the greatest thing she had ever seen. 

"I don't move when I sleep!" she yelled, and Riko cringed, probably hoping that the neighbors wouldn't mind. "My sister does, but I don't! I'm always really, really still, you won't even notice that I'm there!" 

"Maybe we can j-just get a couch-bed or something," Riko fretted, pacing back and forth. 

"Why? This thing's _huge,_ I could get lost in it!" Riko took a deep breath before continuing. Chika sat up, suddenly interested. 

"Chika," she exhaled. "There are certain connotations to two people of our age sleeping in the same bed. I would prefer to avoid that, for the time being." Chika visibly drooped. "Fine, fine, I suppose we could keep our distances." 

"Hooray!" The entire speech had flown over Chika's head, admittedly, but she was glad that Riko hadn't ended up sleeping on the floor. 

***

Chika was true to her word, sleeping almost deadly-still while the moon shone through the thin curtains outside. Riko couldn't get comfortable, somehow, flopping about as much as she could without bothering the girl beside her. She thought about the past few days, about how peaceful and wonderful it had been (about how she had fallen for Chika, about how she had nearly ruined the trip with some badly-timed nostalgia) and soon, she could feel herself drifting from consciousness until she woke to the morning sun, almost feeling as if no time had passed at all. 

***

Chika had not been expecting to wake up with Riko's arms wrapped firmly around her. She had not been expecting to feel such a warm presence, one of comfort and gentleness and caring, at the crack of dawn. Especially not with Riko - Riko, who always seemed so calm and reserved, Riko, who had been afraid of sharing the bed in the first place. 

_She's gonna freak out if she realizes that she's holding onto me like this,_ Chika thought, and with a heavy heart, she wriggled out of Riko's grasp and waited for the other girl to wake up. 

***

Chika offered to drive again that day, and Riko didn't have the energy to say no. She felt as if she was missing something, somehow, like a part of her had suddenly returned to her and then left again without warning. It was pretentious to think like that, she told herself. It wouldn't do either of them any good, thinking of such ridiculous things. The two bid the hotel a somewhat fond farewell before going back on the road again, Chika on the wheel. Hours of small talk passed before anything noteworthy happened. 

"You're always energetic," Riko noted. 

"I sleep a lot," Chika replied. "It's a trade-off." 

"Hmm." The radio droned on, the host mumbling nonsensical babbles about anniversaries and reunions. Neither girl had paid much attention to it throughout the trip, but Chika, for reasons Riko couldn't begin to comprehend, suddenly perked up and started shaking her excitedly as the next song started. 

"Riko!" she squealed, rocking back and forth like a child who had eaten too much candy. "Riko, Riko, they're playing μ's! μ's is on the radio! This is amazing!" 

"Yes, Chika, that's great, but keep your eyes on the r- _oh my god!"_ The car had started to veer off the highway, right in the direction of nearby ditch. _“Chika!"_ Riko grabbed her without a second thought, holding onto the other girl for dear life as both of them screamed, the car flying down into the ditch with a final rumble. "Hey, are you okay?" she asked as soon as the car had stopped. The ditch wasn't particularly deep, but the tires were submerged in mud and it all seemed too slippery to try and drive out of. The rush hour had ended, and only a few cars still traveled down the road. 

"I'm fine!" Chika chirped, seemingly no worse for wear. "What about you? Are you hurt?" 

"I think I might've scratched my arm on the window, but aside from that, I'm okay. The main problem is going to be getting out." 

"Why don't we text the others? Maybe they'll know what to do!"

"Chika, I don't think that's such a great-" 

"There we go!" Chika held up her phone triumphantly. "I've sent messages to everyone else, someone's bound to reply! How about you do it, too?" 

"I need to-" 

"Oh, look! We've got a reply already!" 

**~FALLEN ANGEL YOHANE~: AH, SO I SEE THAT YOU'VE LANDED IN A DIRE SITUATION  
~FALLEN ANGEL YOHANE~: OR SHOULD I SAY  
~FALLEN ANGEL YOHANE~: A TIRE SITUATION  
~FALLEN ANGEL YOHANE~: GET IT  
~FALLEN ANGEL YOHANE~: BECAUSE YOU'RE IN A CAR  
Chika: yoshiko!! this is serious!  
Chika: could you turn off the capital letters??  
~FALLEN ANGEL YOHANE~: I DON'T KNOW HOW**

"Why did you even put that as her contact name?" Riko muttered. 

"I didn't. She snuck it into my phone when I wasn't looking one day." It was all Riko could do not to smack herself in the forehead. 

_This is the person who's going to help us out of a ditch?_ "Could you ask her to call everyone else? They're all staying in town, right?" 

"Great idea!" Chika quickly typed something else as Riko peered over her shoulder. 

**Chika: why don't you call the others?  
~FALLEN ANGEL YOHANE~: OKAY  
~FALLEN ANGEL YOHANE~: COOL BEANS**

"I love everyone in this group dearly, but sometimes I want to fight her," Riko sighed. 

"Well, it's probably gonna take a while for everyone to call back, so how about we just hang out here for now?" Chika had taken off her seatbelt, stretching out as much as she could in the small space. "There's no hurry, right?" 

"There's no wifi, either." Riko held her phone out the window, but to no avail. "I don't know any mechanics around here. We're trapped, Chika." 

"So? We've still got each other, don't we? I'm sure we'll be okay!" The sky was just beginning to darken as afternoon turned to dusk. "Yoshiko's probably gonna call us back any second now." Just then, Chika's phone started ringing. "Hey, speak of the devil!" 

"Was that a pun?" 

"Maybe." 

_"Chika? Riko? Are you two alright?"_

"You!" Chika excitedly squeaked. "Is everyone else here, too?" 

_"Yes,”_ Dia interjected. _"Though, honestly, I'm not quite sure how you two got into this mess. What were you_ thinking, _driving into a ditch off the side of a highway?"_

"I heard a μ's song and got distracted," Chika admitted. 

_"Oh. Well, that's understandable.”_ The distinct sound of a phone being tossed around could be heard. 

_"Wow! We're talking to you from miles and miles away, zura!”_

_"Now, now, this is my car that they've apparently crashed, I should talk to them before you, Hanamaru."_ Riko shuddered at the sound of Mari's voice. 

"I'm sorry!" she blurted out. "We didn't mean to drive it into a ditch!" 

_"Oh, you think I don't know that? I was expecting this to happen, really."_

"You were?" 

_"Of course! The two of you, you're always bound to get into trouble!"_

"Hey!" 

_"Now, now, it's a compliment."_

_"This is a great chat and all,"_ Kanan interrupted, _"but shouldn't we focus on getting these two home?"_

 _"Call a mechanic!"_ Ruby suggested. 

_"Yes,"_ Yohane muttered, _"of course they're just going to call a mechanic in the middle of a ditch, where they hardly have any cell service and don't have any way of finding the number for one._ Great _idea, Ruby."'_

 _"She's trying her best!"_ Dia and Hanamaru snapped in unison. It was beginning to get dark, and Riko shivered at the cold evening air. 

_"Why don't you just hitchhike?”_ Kanan said. 

"That's . . . actually not a bad idea," Riko admitted. "Not right now, obviously, since it's nighttime and I wouldn't want to be picked up by any suspicious characters, but tomorrow morning. We'll do that." Chika moved to hang up the phone, but Riko stopped her. "How have all of you been, by the way?" There was nothing but stunned silence for a few seconds on the other end. 

_"Have you been cloned?"_ Mari asked. _"Is this an evil version of you?"_

_"Why would there be an evil version of me?"_

_“Not . . . oh, never mind."_

"No! I just . . . thought about some stuff. We ran into a weird dog breeder, and she told us something cryptic about enjoying our youth and it made me think and now we're trapped in a ditch without much else to do. Anyway, the point is . . . we'll all still be friends down the line, right?" 

_"Yeah!"_ Ruby squeaked. _“Definitely!”_ The others all mumbled their agreement, and Chika put a hand on Riko's shoulder. 

"I'm glad," Riko murmured. "I'm so glad." 

***

They all talked until the sun went down and the moon rose in the sky, and Chika began to feel pleasantly sleepy. 

"This was really nice, guys, but I think we're gonna hit the hay for now," she said. "Right, Riko?" Riko nodded in agreement. 

"Goodnight, everyone. I suppose I'll see you soon enough, since we'll hopefully be on our way home tomorrow." The seven on the other end of the line all said their goodbyes before Chika set down the phone. 

"Hey, Riko, why don't we watch the stars for a little bit before we go to sleep?" Riko shrugged. 

"Well, as you said, there isn't much else to do, right?" 

"Great!" Chika sprang from the car and climbed onto the roof with the agility of a three-legged cat, and Riko followed soon after. "It's even clearer out here than it is back home. You can see all of them in the countryside." The night sky seemed to be painted with a thousand twinkling lights, and Riko's breath looked to be caught in her throat. "I guess now would be a good time for it, huh?" 

"For what?" 

"Confessions, silly!" Chika playfully elbowed Riko in the ribs. "For me, at least. I dunno if you feel the same way, but I've been building up the courage to do this all week." 

"To do what?" Chika wondered if it was just her imagination, or if she could hear Riko's heart thudding in her chest. 

"Listen, Riko, I like you a lot, okay? I dunno if we'll be able to stay like this forever, but I like you and I don't wanna lose this." Riko inched closer. "We're alone together for now, so maybe we can just be like this for a little while. You get that, right?" Chika had worked up the nerve to hold Riko's hand, and the other girl didn't try to pull away. 

"I like you too," Riko murmured. "That's why I was scared. It'd be horrible if we left things like this, wouldn't it?" 

"It's a good thing that we didn't, then." With that, Chika leaned in, the stars glimmering overhead, and promptly ended up bopping Riko on the nose. "Crap, I'm so sorry! I guess I ruined the mood, huh?" Riko laughed. 

"You are a dork," she said, tucking Chika's braid behind her ear as she kissed her on the lips. 

***

It was not the feeling that Riko had expected. She was expecting an explosion, fireworks and chaos and mystery, but instead Chika tasted more like water on a hot summer's day, like coming home from a long trip to see everything in place, like comfort and certainty and a thousand other things she couldn't describe as she precariously balanced on a car roof with the girl she liked (the girl she could so easily love, given enough time) kissing her like she was the last lifeline. 

"Wow," Chika breathed, her cheeks pink and her hair disheveled. Riko could only nod in agreement before Chika pulled her back in again, and the stars could have burned out for all she cared, because everything important was right there in front of her. 

***

There weren't any qualms about the cramped quarters of the car this time. No, Chika almost felt as if they were too big, and she couldn't get close enough to Riko (Riko, it seemed, couldn't get close enough to her, either) and the two found themselves wrapped in each other's arms that night. The night felt too short, the morning growing closer, but Chika held on like her life depended on it, because here was the girl she liked (the girl she had started to fall deeply in love with) liking her back, keeping their hands tightly intertwined throughout the night in the space of that car. The two of them were going to make that night count, and neither Chika nor Riko wasted a second of it, eventually falling asleep in a tight embrace. 

***

Riko was awoken, somewhat rudely, by a loud truck racing by. The highway was still nearly empty, she saw, and Chika still rested comfortably in her arms. 

"We can rest for a little while longer," she murmured to nobody in particular. This was proven wrong a few seconds longer when Chika's phone started letting out muffled noises. Riko fumbled blindly for it until she finally felt the cold metal in her hands, only to be greeted by seven people yelling about a conflict that wasn't entirely clear. 

_"You left the phone on last night!"_ Yohane yelled. _"Oh, if only my presence as a fallen angel could save my phone bill and-"_

_"Hey, I didn't leave it on! I wasn't even using it!”_

_"No, I wasn't talking to_ you, _You, I was saying that you left on the phone, as in the person I was talking to."_

_'"Yeah, exactly, you said ‘You left the phone on.’"_

_"Who's on first?"_ Mari drowsily sighed from what sounded like the other end of the room, in English. 

_"I meant her, if you were wondering."_ Riko had never wanted to throw a phone out of a car window more than she did in that moment. 

"Hmm?" Chika rubbed her eyes, slowly beginning to sit up. "Riko? Riko, r'you awake?" 

"Yes, I'm awake." 

"We should start hitchhiking soon, if we wanna get home by nightfall!" 

"Isn't that a bit unrealistic? We've been driving for days, it probably won't take just a day to get back home." 

"You never know," Chika sighed, wrapping an arm around Riko's shoulder. She couldn't say that she was uncomfortable with it, honestly. "Maybe there's a really fast person on the highway!" At the moment, there wasn't really _anyone_ on the highway. It was barren, dusty, and more than a little bit unsettling. Riko shuddered. 

"Well, in any case, we won't find someone to get us back home unless we make ourselves known." Riko opened the car door and stepped outside into the mud, heading to the top of the ditch as fast as she could with Chika's hand held tightly in her own. "We'll need to make sure that we have all of our belongings, too." 

"You mean our phones? We didn't really bring much else." 

"You're right about that." They waited for about an hour after that, crouching on the side of the road as absolutely nothing happened. 

"Is this even a highway?" Chika asked. "That's what we've been calling it, but I don't think it is." 

"It doesn't really matter, though. As long as we can find someone, we'll just tell them where we live and pray that they're on their way there too." 

"Okay." 

***

Chika didn't know which to be more surprised about - the fact that there was actually a car heading in her direction, or that Riko had suddenly stuck out her leg when it came into view. She yanked Riko out of the way just as the car - a clunky pink minivan - was about to slice her leg clean off, and the driver screeched to a halt. They rolled down the window, and Chika held her breath, hoping that the driver wasn't, as Riko put it, a 'suspicious character.' 

"Hey, you kids! What're ya _doing?"_ The driver, as it turned out, was a woman in what looked to be a strange disguise, her eyes hidden by sunglasses as her mouth was covered by a mask. "You're gonna die if you stick your leg out on the freeway." 

"I'm sorry, ma'am," Riko murmured respectfully. "We're simply travelers who need a ride back to our hometown. It would mean the world to us if you allowed us to tag along, if you're heading in that direction." 

"Okay, I'll bite." The driver pulled down her mask. "Where do you wanna go?" 

"Numazu!" Chika piped up. "It's our home!" 

"You're going all the way _there?_ Why?" 

"Well-" 

"Ah, it doesn't matter. Hop in. You, though, the one who stuck out her leg a minute ago?" 

"Yes?" 

"You're paying for gas." Riko silently fumed as she climbed into the backseat along with Chika. 

***

"So, uh, what's your name?" 

"That's not important." Chika had been trying - and failing - to make small talk with the driver for the past two hours while Riko refused to say anything to the mysterious woman, protectively holding onto Chika's hand as she stared out the window. 

"Okay. What do you do?" 

"Eh, this and that. I'm past my prime, but I still manage to have fun." 

"Aren't you only in your mid-twenties?" Riko muttered. The driver didn't pay any attention to her. 

"I've got a girlfriend back at home, she teaches piano to little kids on the weekends," the driver continued. 

"Do you care about her?" Riko asked. The driver turned to her, momentarily forgetting her position at the steering wheel, and raised an eyebrow. 

"That's an understatement if I've ever heard one!" she laughed. "She's the only person I might consider cooler than me, does that answer your question?" Riko blinked. 

"I . . . guess?" The driver went back to actually driving the car, lovingly looking at a wrinkled photograph. Chika gave Riko's hand a comforting squeeze. 

"She could be worse," she whispered. "She's actually pretty nice, if a bit weird." 

"Hey, did you two take this highway on your way here, too?" The driver had covered a ridiculously long stretch of land in just a few hours, and Chika wondered how she hadn't gotten ticketed for breaking the speed limit. 

"Yeah," Riko said, recognizing a hotel as the minivan jostled along. "Why do you ask?" 

"Oh, a few of my old, ahem, _backup dancers_ live around here." Chika shot up in her seat. 

"You were a school idol?" The driver smirked, pulling off her sunglasses with a flourish. Chika couldn't help but feel as if she looked familiar, somehow. 

"Hah! _Was I?!_ Only part of the one of the most legendary idol groups ever, Mu-" 

"There's a squirrel in the road!" Riko yelped, and the driver swerved to avoid it. "Honestly, you need to be more careful! You're not just endangering yourself anymore, we're both in this car too!" Chika wasn't particularly affected. 

"We're school idols, too!" she chirped. "Aren't we, Riko?" 

"Should we really be telling that to this stranger?" Riko whispered. The driver adjusted her mirror. 

"Ya do look kinda familiar," the driver mused. "A-something? Right? Am I close?" 

"Aqours!" Chika supplied. "We're Aqours! Well, the two of us are the only ones in this car, but there are seven more of us back home. It was my birthday, so I went on a roadtrip with Riko, just the two of us, but then the hotels kept on getting smaller and there was crying and then we fell into a ditch and made out!" 

"Okay, okay, I didn't ask for your life story. Aqours. Huh. How's the quality limousine service going for you kids?" As if to prove her point, the driver went directly into a pothole. Riko flinched. "I can't say that it's all glamorous, but hey! There're good parts of it, too! I'd give everything to go back to that, even just for a day." The driver dreamily stared up at the clouds. "That's what's important to me." 

"Is everyone out on the highways this wise?" Chika wondered. The driver shrugged. 

"You might've just run into some of the better ones." 

"Okay."

"Don't waste your time, though, okay? It's really special, when you get to become a part of something like this." 

"I understand!" Riko blurted out. The driver smiled. 

"Good for you, kiddo." 

***

Surprisingly enough, the driver managed to drop them off at home that very same night, though Riko wasn't sure exactly how many speeding tickets she had evaded. 

"Stay safe, alright?" she called as she prepared to drive off. "And don't forget to _Nico-Nico-_ . . . eh, forget it. Just be the best you can be!" With that, she sped away. Chika blinked. 

"She was cool," she said. Riko hadn't let go of her hand the entire time. 

"She can't be as great as you," Riko murmured. Chika blushed. 

"Aw, you dork." 

"You were the one who kissed me on the nose!" 

"We're both dorks, then. Maybe all nine of us are dorks. There's nothing wrong with that, though. I like you a lot, Riko, and I love everyone else, too! We can get through anything together, right?" 

"Yeah." Riko looked up at the stars, a thousand sparkles dangling in the air. "Yeah, we can get through anything."


End file.
